I believe you can never stop learning. I'm going to try and live my life and learn as much as I can about everything I can...

If we did all the things we are capable of, we wouldliterally astoud ourselves. - Thomas A. Edison

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Let Freedom Ring

This 4th of July, I made my own flag. It's not the traditional red, white and blue but it does have stripes and a few stars...

I decided to keep some boards natural because the knots and grain of the wood was too awesome to cover up! The other boards, I simply dry brushed on some white paint...

I knew I wanted to go larger with this flag so I choose a pallet that had the larger planks. As soon as I saw these boards I knew I had to try and keep them intact and use every knot, nail hole and crack I could. I love the texture on these boards!

It was such a pain to pry these boards off, but well worth the effort! I love all the nail holes. I even took our grinder to the nails, grinding off just below the nail heads so I could keep them in the boards.

Because I lack any artistic skills in the drawing department, I did what any useful person would do...trace. I have this little star that I used as my outline. Once I traced the outline of my star, I cut it out with the jig saw.

Some other tools I used was wire and rusty bells to join the boards together. I layed all my boards down on the garage floor, on top of a piece of plywood so I could drill the holes for the wire. The hardest part was getting my spacing between each board just right. Once I had each piece of wire cut (6), I shoved some bells on and twisted the wire together. I have this handy little wire twister thing (no idea what it's really called), but you can use a pencil or even your finger depending on how thick your wire is.

I wish I could say I was original with this one but I did get some inspiration from The Lettered Cottage with their coastal-style flag.

There she is in all her distressed glory. I'm still deciding if I need a 5th "stripe?" Such a simple craft, go find a pallet and get started. I think she'll be hanging out all year long...

I totally forgot to send out my monday comments to let folks know they were featured! I love the flag! Come and grab a button!Kimhttp://kim-toomuchtimeonmyhands.blogspot.com/2011/09/good-morning-sunshine.html

My initial reaction upon viewing this was "this is the best board flag I have EVER SEEN!"...I SO need to make one of these now!! Thanks for the inspiration and sharing your tips. I LOVE the curled wire and rusty bells. SO charming! XoXo ;)

Hey there, I'm Jeanette! I'm on a mission to learn everything I can about just about anything. I'll be breaking apart pallets, painting, building, baking, sewing and everything in between because when all is said and done...we're always in training!
Some things you don't know about me? I'm the oldest of 5 kids, I have 3 kids of my own, I love the smell of cedar wood, I love to cry when I watch movies (when no one's watching), I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles growing up, I love listening to Elvis at Christmas time, I have 2 tattos, I wear toe rings and an anklet, The most magical thing I've ever seen is fireflys, I love off-roading with My Daddy, I absolutely LOVE to ride quads when it's raining...
My biggest peeves are people thinking I have brown eyes when they are clearly Hazel!! And I hate when people don't say hello, especially through drive-thru...